<s id="A18-1.20.01">[20] Some people believe, subscribing to false views, that loads lying on the ground can only be moved by an equivalent force.</s>
<s id="A18-1.20.02">Let us therefore prove that loads, lying in the way described, can be moved by a force less than any known one, and let us explain the reason why this phenomenon is not indeed obvious.</s>
<s id="A18-1.20.03">Let us therefore assume a load lying on the ground, let it be regular, smooth and joined in its parts; let the plane that the load is lying on be inclinable to both sides, namely to the right and to the left.</s>
<s id="A18-1.20.04">Let it first incline to the right; then we see that the given load inclines to the right, because it is the natural tendency of the loads to move downward, if they are not supported by something and prevented from motion.If further the inclined side rises back to the horizontal plane and (the entire plane considered in and of itself) comes into balance, then the load will remain in this situation.</s>
<s id="A18-1.20.05">If it now inclines to the other, i.e., to the left side, then the load too will incline towards the lowered side, even if the incline is very small; thus the load does not need a force that moves it, but a force that supports it so it does not move.</s>
<s id="A18-1.20.06">If now the load also returns to balance and does not incline to any side, then it remains like that, without the presence of a force that supports it and remains in rest, until the plane inclines to any side and then it inclines towards that direction.</s>
<s id="A18-1.20.07">Doesn't therefore the load that is positioned to turn to any direction need only a small force to move, that is, in the amount of the force that makes it incline?Therefore, the load can be moved by any small force.</s>
